


Downtime

by janiejanine



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen, Mabari Puppies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 10:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12957483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janiejanine/pseuds/janiejanine
Summary: Cassandra and the Inquisitor take a break with Skyhold’s newest residents.





	Downtime

It had been a long week, and Judith was ready for a break.

She plucked two bottles of wine from the cellar and brought them, along with a basket of food, to Cassandra’s nook. She had good reason for bringing the picnic to Cassandra’s cramped quarters, rather than somewhere more spacious: in a corner near her bed, a litter of orphaned puppies nestled in a mound of blankets, spending their first few months of life in the warmth of the forge.

It had been a  _very_  long week. Puppies seemed necessary.

One and a half bottles later, some of the stress had worked its way out of her shoulders, and her fingertips were pleasantly tingly. The flush on Cassandra’s cheeks suggested she, too, was beginning to relax.

The boldest of the puppies, a chubby thing with brown spots, flopped into Judith’s lap, and she stroked its ears with the hand not occupied with her wineglass.

“Are our guests still bothering you?” she asked.

Cassandra snorted. “They’ve been harassing me for days.”

“You’re an interesting person,” Judith said through a mouthful of cheese.

“Hardly.”

“Varric thinks so.”

“He does not.” Cassandra’s eyes narrowed.

“He’s writing a new serial,” Judith said. “It’s called  _The Shield-Maiden and the Brigand_. I read the first few chapters, and the Shield-Maiden bears a  _striking_  resemblance to one Cassandra Allegra Portia–”

“ _Ugh_.” Cassandra flung a hunk of bread, and Judith ducked, grinning. The brown-spotted puppy capered after it, gnawing on it with slobbery enthusiasm.

“Are you two still not getting along?” Judith asked. Traveling with the both of them could be fraught, but the general mood between them had seemed to be improving.

Cassandra frowned into her glass. “He is…frustrating.”

“He has his good points.”

“So he tells me.”

Judith pointed delightedly to a small white puppy with floppy ears and a golden-brown patch on its chest. “This one looks like him, don’t you think?”

She scooped it up and held it close to her face.

“Well, shit, Seeker,” she said in her best approximation of Varric’s gruff tones. “I didn’t know you cared.”

The puppy let out a tiny squeak.

“Ventriloquism is not among your talents,” Cassandra said, holding a stern expression for an admirable several seconds before collapsing into giggles.

“I think he’s cuter than Varric,” Judith said, examining the puppy with a critical, if somewhat blurry, eye. “But less fuzzy.”

“Good. He would be jealous, otherwise.” Cassandra leaned over and planted a kiss on the tip of its nose.

“If he’d seen that, he would be.”

“What?”

“Nothing!” Judith said hastily. “More wine?”

She poured them both another glass. With any luck, one more would be an adequate distraction.


End file.
